TRUTH ABOUT MARIJUANA

I CANNOT HELP BUT RESPOND TO THE SEPT. 18 article "U.S. official warns of
teen pot use."

No credible study has ever concluded that marijuana is physiologically
addictive in humans in the sense that alcohol, cocaine and other such drugs
are. There is anecdotal evidence, among a minority of chronic pot smokers
of many years' duration, of something akin to a psychological dependence
upon the associated behavior and ambience of pot smoking.

An addiction, however, has two other required components, tolerance and
withdrawal, neither one of which is physically evident with marijuana
smokers. Tolerance means ever larger doses of the drug are required to
produce the same effect. Withdrawal means physiological changes
occur--heart rate, respiration, nausea, etc.--from sudden cessation of the
drug. No reliable studies have shown that these events occur with marijuana
usage, especially the level of usage found among most teenagers.

Marijuana definitely can be abused, as can chocolate and potato chips, but
that is not the same as an addiction. Abuse of marijuana among teenagers
can definitely--though not always--lead to major problems in other aspects
of their lives including their education, jobs and relationships with peers
and family, but that is not the same as an uncontrollable inability to
exist without marijuana.

Associating with the people who deal marijuana can certainly lead to
exposure to and even a desire to move on to other, harder illicit
substances, but that is not the same thing as concluding that smoking
marijuana leads to addiction to cocaine and heroin.

The most flagrant lies in the article, however, were the ones by John
Walters, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, who
indicated that "more teens are addicted to pot than to alcohol or to all
other illegal drugs combined" and "more teens enter rehabilitation centers
to treat marijuana addiction than alcohol or all illegal drugs combined."

Even if we were to accept that psychological dependence upon marijuana is
synonymous with addiction, the first statement is so patently untrue and
unsupported as to be laughable.

I do not condone the usage of any mind-altering substances by minors, not
only because the laws make it illegal but also because it adversely affects
their brain cells at a time when they are still in a period of rapid
growth. Teens, especially, need all their brain cells in optimum working
condition if they are to make good life-affirming decisions. But if we want
our children to listen to us, we cannot ever lie to them.

Kathryn G. Havemann, Washington Twp.